Friday, January 23, 2015
On December 29, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras called for a national election to be held on January 25 after government presidential candidate and former European commissioner Stavros Dimas failed to garner the 180 votes in the third and final round of voting in Parliament. Under the constitution, the legislature was dissolved on December 31. The new Parliament will reconvene on February 5 following the national election.On January 25, a total of 9,808,760 people will be eligible to vote, the majority of whom (5,060,877) are women. The largest number of Greek voters is in the 42-47 age group, with 1,003,743 individuals between these ages registered on the official electoral lists. There are 273,941 newly registered voters casting their ballots on January 25, of whom 224,272 are aged 18-21. The rest are new citizens who were only recently issued state identification cards and registered on the electoral lists.
In total, 18 official parties and 4 alliances are taking part in the forthcoming election. The main parties are: New Democracy, Syriza, PASOK, Golden Dawn, Independent Greeks, Communist Party (KKE), Democratic Left (DIMAR), Movement of Democratic Socialists, To Potami (The River).
Kathimerini.com: Elections 2015 - Party Profiles; See also Greek News Agenda: Snap Elections for Greece in January & Special Issue: General Election May 6, 2012
Election results will be uploaded as soon as they are processed on: Parliamentary Elections 2014; Interior Ministry: Previous election results (1996-2009)
The European Central Bank (ECB) could begin buying Greek state bonds from July, after Greece repays maturing bonds currently held by ECB, Mario Draghi told reporters on January 22. Responding to questions, the European central banker added that the same general regulation that applies to all Eurozone member-states will also apply to Greece: the ECB could buy up to 33% of state bonds traded in the secondary market, or not more than 25% of any specific bond issue.
Draghi emphasised that in the case of Greece, the country’s participation in the quantitative easing (QE) programme meant that an exception set by ECB on accepting Greek state bonds as collateral – for as long as the country was in an adjustment programme - was valid.
The impeding general election in Greece, on January 25, has sparked heated debates over whether and how Greek politics could affect the Euro zone. Some of the most important think tanks internationally have produced papers or hosted events this election. Brussels-based Bruegel has published two articles in January on the subject: Why a Grexit is more costly for Germany than a default inside the euro area, written by Zsolt Darvas and Pia Hüttl (01.16), which came as an answer to an IFO Institute’s short paper. Earlier, Guntram B. Wolff wrote an article titled Why Grexit would not help Greece for Bruegel. The European Policy Centre has hosted a speech by Athens University Professor George Pagoulatos on January 21 on Greek elections and crisis – potential outcome and perspectives.
See also Greek News Agenda: Greek Yogurt Takes over New York State & Greek Food Exports on the Rise
